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"Tanzanite" wrote:At the risk of going off -topic, the best role models to provide this are you and her mother and in particular in the way that you treat your daughter as she grows up as well as how you treat the other women in your life. If she sees that the man she admires and loves the most treats her and women in general with respect and the belief that they are in charge of their own lives, she will grow up believing it and will accept nothing less from anyone, including potential boyfriends or husbands.

I coulbn't agree more. Someone once said that "the greatest gift a father can give to his children is to love their mother"

"consterdine" wrote:AThat this medieval man is so in touch with his feminine side may be a contemporary twist but it enables an inspiring, intriguing and almost irresistable character to emerge.

Overall the writing transports the reader and weaves a wondrous world that you can immerse yourself in. Thank you Elizabeth for a beautifully told story.

Thank you Consterdine, When I began writing The Greatest Knight, I was only touching the tip of the iceberg re William Marshal and as I've written more about him and his family, I've grown to know him better. I do think he was more in touch with his feminine side - LOL - than some of his contemporaries in that his wife had a say in his counsels; she wasn't excluded from 'man' business. He was a close friend of Eleanor of Aquitaine throughout her life and I think in no small part she advanced his career - and if Eleanor liked him, then it's a good indicator. There are all sorts of little scraps and hints along his life path that on their own wouldn't amount to a hill of beans, but when you put them together, they build into a body of evidence for him being respectful, fair-minded and generous towards women of his own rank certainly. He was still very much a man of his time though. Nothing stood in the way of him marrying off his daughters to suit his political purposes, and even if Isabelle had her say, his word was the final call. She might not have wanted to give up their sons to King John, but William's will prevailed.
Now look, you've gone and got me started on William Marshal! The rational part is now dragging the fangirl away and back to what she should to be doing!

There are a number of giveaways happening at the moment around blogland. We are trying to spotlight them at HT, but I might miss some. In the next couple of days we will have the blog tour list up and there may be giveaways at most of those blogs.

Well it was nice to see the Marshal getting a name-check in the mini-quiz in our paper today, the question is "who was England's "the greatest knight" who served as regent during Henry III's early reign"?

Currently reading "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott & "The Seagull" by Ann Cleeves